Sandwiched, the TICFA way…

Rubana Huq
Published : 6 August 2012, 05:51 AM
Updated : 6 August 2012, 05:51 AM

I grew up on sandwiches. As a result, I have a natural abhorrence to anything that looks like a layered item. The meat in the middle, to me, looks like the repressed 'gono manush' while the top layer looks like our rulers and the bottom almost has a semblance to our 'pati'(small) players a.k.a 'leagues'. Unfortunately the whole nation is sandwiched between multiple choices now. Choice or not, we have had it.

We always have multiple issues on our platter. On one hand, we have the American ambassador trying to caution our country about the consequences of not having signed TICFA, on another we are suffering pangs from the EU recession. And of course, we have our fair share of "dhawas-palta dhawas", the chases and counter chases between: police-shop owners, interns-journalists, police-students, etc, etc. Then, finally, a little someone from one corner of the country just thought of a murder plot and has sued Shawon and Mazharul Islam and has just made headlines all over the land. As a country we could possibly qualify for an "issue marathon" at any point of time. There are just too many issues, just too many scuffles, just too many judgments, and just too many complaints. Too overwhelming…truly.

On top of that, we just had our Prime Minister face the Talk. It's ok when politicians say one thing and mean the other; it's ok when one in the cabinet states something and the other goes in a different direction; it's really ok. As far as we are concerned, democracy means multitudes and practices of democracy entail oscillations of various paces.

But when it comes to trade and commerce, there's no scope for a rainbow shade to settle in; and there's no grey, as far as economic reality is concerned. Either you are booming or you're not. Either you are a "tiger" or you're a meek cat. Both may roar and purr, but at the end of the day, it's the food on your table that speaks for your achievements.

For the last couple of weeks, there have been serious discussions on the labour standards of Bangladesh. Apparently we are compromised; apparently we have made no real effort.

For the last couple of days, there have been references to Ticfa not having been signed when Senator Clinton was visiting us.
For the last couple of months, we have been hearing about our Nobel Laureate being tied to World Bank's refusal to grant Padma Bridge loan.

The accusations on labour standards can easily be refuted; Ticfa can be dealt with and the Nobel Laureate's name can also easily be cleared from the messy scene. But what would still remain is the sole question on how much can we expect the western world to practice the non reciprocity doctrine and how much mileage can we gain from that?

Or do we always have to be strategically important for them to favour us positively? Or do we attract the critique just because we have no terrorism links and as a consequence have no bargaining power?

More than 35% of garment items from Bangladesh go to the US. More than 30 countries have signed Ticfa with the US. The US has already signed Ticfa with more than 30 trading partners, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Angola and a group of Central Asian nations and Asean.

For us, there were four core factors — security, protection of investment, intellectual property rights and standard of labour — were the main obstacles in signing of the Ticfa. Out of the all four, Bangladesh had opposed the labour standard requirement. Now, is Ticfa a non-binding agreement? Are we only supposed to hold annual meetings and have the right to differ? Yes we do. Currently, Bangladeshi garment exporters pay 17% duty at an average for exporting to the US while China, the largest apparel exporting country worldwide pays only 3% to the US market. The US provides GSP facilities or, preferential duty-free entry to about 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories, including Bangladesh. But, readymade garment is not one of them and neither are leather goods and footwear. Bangladesh suffers the highest duty of 32 per cent on man-made fibre clothes. Just for our information.

Because of the duty free access to the EU, Bangladesh's exports surged up to USD 19.10 billion in the fiscal year of 2011-2012. In 2010-11 fiscal, Bangladesh exported goods worth $5.10billion while the import from the US was calculated $676 million during the same period, whereas the total amount of export of China to the US was calculated at $377.33 billion with duty at only 3%; Canada exported $274.77 billion with 0.9% percent duty; and Mexico exported $228.33 billion with a little more than 1% duty while Japan exported $129 billion with 1.6% duty.

Under the Doha Round of 2001, shouldn't the US also offer us the same access? Should the doctrine of non-reciprocity be given up altogether? Should TICFA be tied to duty-free facilities at all? And the fact that we are being threatened regularly with regard to withdrawal of GSP facilities to a limited list of exports should indeed not scare us away.

But yes, if we are talking about Bangladesh gaining duty-free access to the US for readymade garments, then let's talk business. Compromised labour standard is not something a country is proud of. A simple example should suffice.

Once upon a moon ago, I spotted a young boy in the lift and asked him where he worked. He quietly told me that he worked on the 12th floor and was getting paid Taka 2000.00 per month. I asked him if he went to school. He replied in the negative. I took him in, employed him as a tea-boy and gave him 3 hours off from work everyday to attend a school that we have set up in the neighbourhood. At school, he was faring brilliantly. A boy who had never even seen an exercise copy was making magic; he had the highest score in Math and English in his class, which was of course attended by children much younger to him. But alas! One day, when one of the buyers visiting our office noticed him serving tea and asked me if was underage. I confessed. As a result, I had to transfer him to another division that does not call for compliance. Yes, he earns more money there but he's missing out on school. Is this what we want?

I have to refer to another story in this piece. A US retailer who used to place a lot of business with us suddenly went on a counter-checking binge. Their team arrived at the factory premises one morning and started checking the medical certificates on record. One of them started to tour the factory lines and randomly pick workers who looked sort of underage. After multiple rounds of elimination, the retailer's representative finally picked one, who just looked "too young" for comfort. She argued with me and finally at one point of altercation, she asked the worker to open her mouth and show her whether she had her wisdom tooth in place. I was shocked, scared out of my wits and had no comeback.

The worker was smart to retort, "But madam, I am a Royal Bengal Tiger who just doesn't have the structure of an American cat."
This time, it was the auditor's turn to be shocked. We lost business with that buyer eventually. But till date I have no regrets.

RMG market has limited alternatives. No matter how much incentive is offered for new markets, let's face it: the US will always be larger than most. So, if gaining GSP facilities for RMG requires adherence to stricter labour standards, so be it. But in the process, perhaps in the course of our conversation with the US drive one point home: we deserve non-reciprocal benefits; we deserve better attention. Now, why do we deserve special attention? We do because the Testimony of Robert O. Blake, Jr, the Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of the United States had specific reference to Bangladesh being "moderate, tolerant, secular, democratic alternative to violent extremism" (notice we have become "moderate" and "secular" in place of "moderate Muslim). The testimony also makes references to Bangladesh being a "leader in promoting regional connectivity" by promoting "stability in a troubled region". The testimony also refers to Bangladesh being fostering "global peace" with specific references to our UN Peace Keeping mission. The testimony mentions that Bangladesh also is a "focus country for all of the President's signature "development initiatives," including the Global Health Initiative, the Global Climate Change Initiative and the Feed the Future Initiative." The full report also mentions Bangladesh's importance and achievement to the full including Bangladesh having "passed comprehensive anti-trafficking-in-persons legislation" which shall guard "against the exploitation of male laborers".

Senator Blake has, however, mentioned four areas — Rohigyas, RAB, Iliyas Ali and Aminul Islam as areas where the US continues to be worried about. And in the same report, there is one more statement that calls for concern. The US is perceiving us as a nation where the "space for civil society is shrinking." Is it? We have free press, we have open platforms for civic debates, we bash our leaders and opposition as much as we can, and yet the space for civil society is shrinking? Really?

As much as we cannot deny the disappearance of Iliyas Ali, or the murder of Aminul Islam, we also can perhaps point to the fact that Colombia, with which the US Congress has signed FTA has a record of 2880 labour leaders being killed ever since 1986.

Fortunately, our records are far better than countries, which are strategically more important than us. Yet, unfortunately, we turn against ourselves too oftener than is good for us. Therefore, the ostensible allies that we have get the opportunity to pick on us.
As much as we cannot deny having being able to offer shelter for the Rohingyas, as much as we cannot deny a few excesses of RAB, we can also ask that out of the whole testimony, the four points that were raised as opposed to the 20 praises for Bangladesh, should four issues be isolated and prioritized and allowed to jeopardize a relationship that could have been mutually beneficial for both Bangladesh and US? Perhaps not!

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Rubana Huq is a poet, researcher and an entrepreneur.